9. After that 10 minutes, run cold water over the eggs (in the pan) in the sink for a minute or two. When pan is cool or lukewarm to the touch, drain out about 1/2 of the water.

10. Immediately add several handfuls or cupfuls of ice, so that eggs are once again covered. If the ice melts very quickly, add more.

11. Let eggs sit in ice water for a few minutes until they’re nice and cold to the touch–about 10 minutes or so.

12. Remove eggs to a colander so they drain/dry. Brush off any bits of cooked egg white that might have leaked from the eggs.

Store eggs in refrigerator. I know that the Easter Bunny used to leave boiled eggs in baskets overnight, but she has revised her practices for health and safety reasons.

Peeling: This is the best part. Roll the egg around on the counter until it’s all nice and crackly. Careful not to take out a big chunk when you start to peel. It’s good to start on that narrow end–sometimes there’s a little air pocket. Once you get started, the skin should come off easily.

Does this sound complicated? I promise that it’s not, really. I adapted the recipe from Julia Child’s The Way to Cook. She has you do two quick dips in ice water-filled bowls. It really does make you hang around and pay attention. But I found–accidentally–that the trick is putting the cold eggs into nearly-hot water. Don’t know why it works.

Let me know if it works for you. If it doesn’t, feel free to riff on what you’ve read here, and come back and share.

Enjoy!

P.S. If you came by just for the egg recipe, I hope you’ll poke around the blog, and maybe check out my books. Welcome! –Laura

Ha! I just made hard boiled eggs yesterday – and I always, always worry about them. I’m bad, though, I just put them in the pan, cover them with water, turn the burner to 5, and the timer to 30. Let them bubble and boil, then sit in the pan to cool. Your way sounds faster. But then I could sit on my btt whilst they cook : )

I have to laugh. When my parents sold their house, some 20 years ago now, I inherited my mother’s Oster Egg Cooker, which was already probably 15 years old at the time. It makes perfect eggs of the soft, medium or hard-boiled variety. Unfortunately, I think they’ve stopped making them since they were so well-made in the old days people didn’t have to rebuy!

I’ve never boiled an egg in a pot since I got my egg cooker, and I’d probably have a really hard time! LOL!

i *heart* hard boiled eggs sooo much! i just made a batch last week – and they peeled SO EASY! i didn’t do a pin hole or the ice, but i did boil them for 10 minutes, let them set for 10 minutes & then ran them under cold water. awesome! : )